Dress Code

Let’s be honest…Business casual is one of the most “use your discernment” rules in the history of corporate rules. It is an extremely slippery slope but many companies still include it in the “we’re business but still cool enough to party” portion of their welcome packet. After A while the whole business part of the dress code gets lost in a sea of flip flops, T-shirts, Air Force Ones, destroyed denim and wrist phones also known as the Apple Watch. Casual Fridays begin on Monday and tend to extend until we catch word that the big boss is coming to the office.

As fearless as we are walking into the office draped in denim capris on a Monday, we (women) tend to be awfully humble when it comes to switching up our hair in corporate settings. The mere fact that so many women debate on doing cool things to their hair because of where they work has always made me wonder why?

I decided that I would ask a couple of my girlfriends if and why they feel like they can’t wear their hair in certain hairstyles at work. The consensus was: natural hairstyles cause an uproar and a series of silly questions that make them feel like a spectacle. I can’t lie. I too, have felt like this before. It’s almost like the moment you walk into work with a twist out, you get bombarded with questions like: Can I touch it? How do you get it to stand up like that? And the ever so popular, is it real? I personally don’t have time to give a history lesson on black hair for 8 hours. It can be draining. Trust and believe that it’s not just women of color that feel like they can’t wear their hair their way they want to in a corporate setting. I hear women of all ethnic backgrounds debating on cutting their hair or coloring it simply because they didn’t believe that it would go over well in the office. My thoughts on it is this: cut, color, braid, twist, wash and go, curl, or asymmetrical bob your hair if you want to. Bob came to the office in sweatpants on Tuesday. Live your life like you only get one!